March 23-27, 2026

It was a busy and beautiful week here at Tandem. Our Middle and Upper School Science Olympiad teams competed and performed so well in the state tournament at UVA, with medals galore and the state Coach of the Year Award for Coach Alex (details and photos below). The Upper School team was the only school, public or private, from the Charlottesville and Richmond areas to place in the top twelve! Fifteen Upper Schoolers had a great experience at the Model UN conference in Washington, DC last weekend, representing Tandem well. More than half of our seniors completed their Senior Project presentations this week to appreciative audiences - what a treat (details and photos below)! Donations to our food drive for BRAFB are trickling in - please try to send something in next week. The cast of the Upper School’s 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee worked extra hard during tech week this week - tonight is OPENING NIGHT of a delightful show you don’t want to miss! See ticket reservations link below and do come and enjoy their production. Faculty and staff were very grateful for the delicious coffee provided today by Atlas Coffee and the Robertson family. A community Quiz Bowl competition was underway at lunchtime this week, with eight teams comprised of both students and faculty/staff battling one another in 15-question matches. Watch for a victor next week! Varsity track athletes launch their season today at Woodberry Forest and there were games and gorgeous spring weather in abundance this week. All are impatient for Spring Break, which is only a week away!

In the Middle School, Saturday marked the debut of a Tandem Middle School team at the Science Olympiad Division B state tournament; they earned a medal and placed well (see details and photos below). 5th graders continue with their Monster Madness in Latin. 6th graders are learning about both the Silk Road and the Green Book. 7th graders are practicing graphing and learning about genetic drift. 8th graders are tackling the elements in science and learning about Truman and the bomb. They also spent time with Gordon Fields to help prepare for facilitating mini SEED (Seeking Educational Diversity in Education) lessons and discussions in the Middle School.

 

In the Upper School, our Science Olympiad state team finished with five medals and their highest team finish in Tandem Science Olympiad history (see details and photos below), beating out all other Central Virginia schools including Albemarle High School. 9th graders are into The Interpreter of Maladies and also turned in some creative PEEPs history projects this week (see details and photos below). Sophomores are putting the finishing touches on their Sophomore Seminars - many final components were due this week. Engineering students are about to kick off their trebuchet and boat projects. Public Speaking students delivered their press conference talk to their peers. The community got to witness the hard work and passion that go into Senior Projects as 19 seniors presented during Community Time this week. Upper Schoolers, senior family members and even Middle Schoolers (today) got to see what they learned - the rest of our seniors will present next week (see details and photos below). Our Quiz Bowl team travels to compete this weekend and our Upper School Geeky Girls volunteers are hosting another science event on campus tomorrow for local 3rd-5th grade girls. Don’t forget to come see The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee over the weekend! There is even a fun opportunity for four audience members to participate in the spelling bee in the first act.